Gardening Jobs for October

Hello, Gardeners All. Autumn's beginning to gather pace, seed heads are cracking open, leaves are turning amber and gold, and the acers especially are looking magnificent.  But before we head off to the nearest arboretum, here are October's gardening tips...

Sowing & Growing

On a warm, dry day, collect seeds from summer-flowering perennials for free plants for next year.  Agastache foeniculum, Echinacea purpurea and Eryngium bourgattii are good candidates, although cross-pollination can affect just how closely they'll resemble their parents.  Other perennials which are fun to collect – 'fun' because they're often highly bred cultivars and thus don't grow true from seed, colour-wise – include Aquilegias, penstemon hybrids and Achillea millefolium.  Collect your seed in individual brown envelopes, remembering to date and name them on the outside.  Store somewhere dry and dark until you're ready to sow them.

While the soil's still warm enough, do consider direct sowing some hardy annuals such as Nigella, Cerinthe, Calendula and Ammi majus.  These plants often do better growing in situ, rather than being transplanted as seedlings from seed trays.  Weed a patch of ground, rake to a fine tilth to ensure good seed-to-soil contact, and sow the seed in pre-watered drills.  Lightly cover and, if the soil's very dry, water again.  Remember to mark your drills with labels so you don't forget what you've sown where!

Spring bulbs are still worth buying and planting, and you may find some cracking bargains as retailers clear their remaining stock. Snap up anything that takes your fancy for pots of colour next year.

October's a good time to plant peony crowns and evergreen shrubs.

Harvest and store root vegetables that are ready to come out of the ground, ahead of the frosts.   Jerusalem artichokes, however, are often best left until after the first frost, which can improve their flavour. Once you've lifted your chokes, replant the smallest tubers for next year's harvest.

If you're lucky enough to have access to a polytunnel, now's a great time to sow leafy veg for early spring:  spinach, rocket, chicory and even pak choi do well under cover and will extend your kitchen garden harvest by a couple of months.

Pruning

Continue deadheading late season flowering perennials such as dahlias and heleniums.  This will ensure an extended season of blooms right up to the first frosts.

Cut back the decaying, scrappy foliage of herbaceous perennials.  Peonies and hostas, I'm looking at you!  But do try to leave as many stems and seed heads in situ as possible for the birds and insects to snack on and take shelter amidst over winter.

Tidy up and tie in your climbing roses before the autumn gales hit, but consider leaving the hips of your shrub roses in place to ripen for the birds, provide a pop of cheery late autumn colour, or to harvest for rosehip syrup.  The fat, juicy hips from Rosa canina and Rosa rugosa are the best ones to use to make vitamin C-rich syrups and jellies.

While we're busy beginning to put our gardens to bed, however, there are some plants to save from your pruning snips altogether in October: 

• Ornamental grasses provide movement and structure in the winter, and look attractive dusted with frost.  They also provide vital habitats for our precious insects.  Cut these  grasses to the crown in early spring.
• Spring-flowering shrubs should not be pruned now, either.  Forsythia, lilacs, magnolias and rhododendrons will have already set their buds for the next season.
• It's a good idea to cut to the ground raspberry canes which have already fruited, but leave your autumn-fruiting canes until the spring tidy up.
• Leaving in place the dried flower heads of hydrangeas will help protect the crowns and next year's buds from cold snaps.  This is true particularly for mophead and lacecap types, which flower on old wood.  Tender salvias, such as S. guaranitica, S. 'Amistad', and some S. nemorosa cultivars also benefit from leaving their top growth in place over winter, particularly in colder or more exposed gardens.

Other Jobs

Lift, split and replant congested clumps of perennials such as hardy geranium and crocosmia.

Continue raking up and collecting fallen leaves in leaf mould bags.  Once the bags are full, dampen them and store somewhere unobtrusive for a year, by which time you'll have free leaf mould to use as a soil improver or mulch.

October's a good time to scarify and feed a tired-looking lawn, or lay fresh turf over a larger bare area, provided the weather and soil conditions are suitable. Keep mowing as needed while the grass is growing, raising the cutting height a little as the weather cools.

A Recipe for Raw Rosehip Syrup

• Wash your rosehips well, pat dry and trim the ends.  Pierce each hip with a fork or score with the tip of your knife.
• Place a thick layer of caster sugar on the bottom of a sterilised, dry and sealable jar.  Add a layer of hips and repeat the layers until the jar is full.
• Give the jar a good knock on your countertop and top up with additional sugar to fill any empty gaps between the fruits.
• Seal the jar and store near a sunny windowsill for a few weeks, and up to a couple of months.  Gently shake the jar from time to time as the sugar dissolves and pulls the juice from the fruit.
• Once the sugar has completely liquefied, strain the mixture through a muslin cloth.  Note:  Strain thoroughly to remove the tiny, irritating hairs found inside the rosehip seeds.
• Pour the strained liquid into a clean, thoroughly sterilised jar and store in the fridge.  Use within a few months:  either take by the spoonful as a syrup containing vitamin C, or dilute in water for a refreshing floral-flavoured drink, pour neat over ice cream, or try using the syrup in a hedgerow-inspired cocktail with white rum and soda. Do discard your syrup if it shows any signs of fermentation or spoilage.

Have fun in the garden, everyone!

Justine Hutchinson: Founding Weeder & Beautifier of Borders